understand the history

The French Impressionist considered this small chapel built for Dominican sisters in France his masterpiece.

The Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, and writer created what has come to be known as one of the most important examples of 20th century religious architecture.

Informally known as Vatican II, the Second Council marked an effort to address the challenges that political, social, economic, and technological change posed to the Catholic Church.

When Dominique and John de Menil commissioned the American artist Mark Rothko to create the paintings for the Rothko Chapel, the artist was at the height of his career.

At the dedication, Mrs. de Menil remarked about Mark Rothko: “As he worked on the chapel, which was to be the greatest adventure of his life, his colors became darker and darker, as if he were bringing us to the threshold of transcendence, the mystery of the cosmos, the tragic mystery of our perishable condition.”  

The Chapel presented these awards every five years to exceptional people who distinguish themselves through their courage and integrity. Past winners include CONAVIGUA, the National Coordinating Group of Guatemalan Widows, and Juan Guillermo Cano Isaza and Ignacio Gómez of El Espectador of Colombia. 

Cardinal Arns, Archbishop of São Paulo, an internationally known human rights advocate, was chosen to receive the award for his long and indefatigable efforts on behalf of the poor, and for his remarkable courage in confronting the terrorism of the military regime that held power in Brazil from 1964 to 1985. One of his most extraordinary accomplishments was the surreptitious collecting and publishing of detailed documentation from military archives concerning secret detentions, torture, and execution of thousands of the disappeared.  

Rigoberta Menchu, a leading advocate of Indian rights in Guatemala and throughout the Western Hemisphere, spoke at the Chapel just prior to her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, which she received that same year.  

Oslobodjenje, a daily Bosnian newspaper run by a multi-ethnic, multi-religious team of journalists in Sarajevo, was established during World War II as the voice of liberation. Their unity of purpose and commitment to democracy expressed the fundamental hope of the people in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In the early 1990s, despite Serbia’s efforts to destroy this symbol of multi-ethnic cooperation, the paper continued to be printed and distributed under bombing, sniper fire, and critical survival conditions. 

In 1994, Salima Ghezali became Algeria’s only female newspaper editor when she took over La Nation, a French language weekly with a circulation of 60,000. Mrs. Ghezali was continuously under threat of kidnapping, torture, and death for refusing to submit the publication to the authorities for censorship. Abdennour Ali Yehya, an Algerian attorney and former government minister, distinguished himself under various regimes by his persistent denouncement of human rights violations and by his tenacity to uphold legal safeguards for the victims. He was arrested, detained, and deported for his struggle for freedom and the defense of his fellow citizens.

Dr. Ishai Menuchin helped found Yesh Gvul, an Israeli organization dedicated to supporting soldiers’ right to refuse orders, on moral grounds, from their military superiors. Once a Major in the Israeli Defense Forces Reserves, he was imprisoned for insisting that there is a limit to what citizens or soldiers should be required to do.

Established in 1998 by Sr. Ortiz, an Ursuline nun, TASSC is a coalition of survivors based in Washington, D.C. The group, which currently represents more than 60 countries and ethnic groups, calls for the abolition of torture and mistreatment. Sr. Ortiz survived imprisonment and torture in Guatemala while serving as a missionary teacher of Mayan children. 

Arrested in 2005 for evacuating three violently ill migrants from the Arizona desert for urgent medical care, Ms. Sellz and Mr. Strauss were recognized for their integrity and willingness to risk their freedom for their belief that providing humanitarian aid should never be a crime. They donated half of their award to No More Deaths, a Tucson-based organization dedicated to giving humanitarian aid to prevent deaths along the Arizona-Mexico border.  

Dr. Namegabe led a sustained and successful effort in the Democratic Republic of Congo to rescue and rehabilitate children recruited to serve as soldiers by warring rebels in that country.

In 1998, Madame Dutour founded the Collective for the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria and its partner organization, SOS Disparus, which provides legal support to families. Her life’s work was sparked by the disappearance of her own son, Amine, who was 21 when he inexplicably disappeared in January 1997. 

A champion of worker’s rights and dignity in Mexico, Ms. Velázquez Díaz is the director of the Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador (Center for Worker Support – CAT), which she and a few other young, female labor rights activists founded in 2001. The center promotes the rights of workers in Mexico’s garment and auto parts industries in Puebla, and has faced powerful, often corrupt, and violent opposition.   

Berta Cáceres, a Lenca indigenous woman, was a founding director and general coordinator of Consejo Civico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras. Berta was assassinated on March 2, 2015 in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras. Miriam Miranda, a Garifuna woman, is executive director of Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña. The two women share a strong solidarity and friendship. When Berta was threatened and criminalized, Miriam’s organization responded through an emergency grant. When Miriam was kidnapped, Berta was the first to denounce the act.